For tonight's Conversations with Great Minds - I'm joined by award-winning author Jeff Sharlet. His career in journalism, academia and publishing has distinguished him as a prolific voice on faith and spirituality in the United States. In 2000, Sharlet teamed up with novelist Peter Manseau to create KillingTheBuddha.com - which has since become an award-winning online literary magazine about religion and spirituality - and led to a year-long road trip across the United States where Sharlet investigated the various forms religion takes in this country. He has spoken at universities across the country, contributed to the country's leading magazines and newspapers - including Mother Jones, The Nation, The New Republic, The New Statesman, The Washington Post, Salon, and the Columbia Journalism Review - and is a familair presence on MSNBC, NPR, CNN, BBC and the The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. His newest book - "Sweet Heaven When I Die" explores the spiritual landscape of the United States and profiles religious radicals, realists and escapists who straddle that undefined border between belief and skepticism.

Susan P. Crawford, JD - Captive Audience: The Telecom Industry and Monopoly Power in the New Gilded Age joins Thom Hartmann.

In this week's Conversations with Great Minds Harriet A.Washington joins Thom. Her book Deadly Monopolies: The Shocking Corporate Takeover of Life Itself is an exposé of the medical industrial complex's rush to own and exploit the raw materials of human life - including your body tissue and DNA! Her book "Medical Apartheid" documents how people of color - particularly African Americans - have been subjected to everything from medical experimentation and vivisection to the denial of medical services from the days of slavery to today.

In Conversations with Great Minds Thom Hartmann is speaking with award-winning American novelist Walter Mosley whose written 34 critically-acclaimed books. His most recent is titled: "Twelve Steps Toward Political Revelation"

Alan Weisman, author Countdown: Our Last, Best Hope for a Future on Earth, the long awaited follow-up to his previous book "The World Without US" which also became a documentary for PBS' NOVA program.

Professor Kevin O'Leary PhD, Research Fellow-Center for the Study of Democracy, University of California, Irvine / Author-Trump and the Roots of Rage: The Republican Right and the Authoritarian Threat joins Thom. Even if he loses in November - Donald Trump won't just end up as a footnote in history. The terrifying reason why in tonight's Conversations with Great Minds.

For more information on the stories we've covered visit our websites at thomhartmann.com - freespeech.org - and RT.com. You can also watch tonight's show on Hulu - at Hulu.com/THE BIG PICTURE and over at The Big Picture YouTube page. And - be sure to check us out on Facebook and Twitter!

Steven Druker, Alliance For Bio-Integrity/Altered Genes, Twisted Truth: How the Venture to Genetically Engineer Our Food Has Subverted Science, Corrupted Government, and Systematically Deceived the Public. Even though supporters of genetically engineered food say it's perfectly safe - decades of scientific research says otherwise.So why doesn't the Food and Drug Administration ban it once and for all?

For more information on the stories we've covered visit our websites at thomhartmann.com - freespeech.org - and RT.com. You can also watch tonight's show on Hulu - at Hulu.com/THE BIG PICTURE and over at The Big Picture YouTube page. And - be sure to check us out on Facebook and Twitter!